


Amaryllis

by TiranasGoldfish



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, Gen, I don't know, Language of Flowers, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-16
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 11:37:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/686528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiranasGoldfish/pseuds/TiranasGoldfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry needs a present for his mother (Regina); Rumpelstiltskin needs flowers for Belle. One can go places, the other can pay. They strike up a deal.</p><p>(Shameless fluff)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Belladonna Lily

It was the jangle of bells as the shop door opened that alerted him to his visitor.

“I’m starting to wonder if I should demand a refund for that ‘Closed’ sign. Obviously it doesn’t work.” He maneuvered around a table piled high with lamps and books to see who would invade at this hour of the night, ducking his head to avoid the low-hanging birdcages.

“If you _really_ didn’t want anybody to come in, you would have locked the door.” The boyish voice surprised him, as did its owner looking intently into the glass cabinet by the door.

“Undoubtedly.” Rumpelstiltskin leaned back against the counter as he considered the boy from across the shop. “I admit, I expected someone taller. What brings you here today, Henry? Is somebody missing yet again?” He hoped the boy wasn’t here to make a deal. Try as he might, if the terms were good, Rumpelstiltskin wasn’t sure he could refuse. Besides, he had his own deal to offer today.

Henry spared him a glance before moving further into the shop to continue his inspection of its wares. “I want to buy my mom a present."

“Which one? Last time I checked you still had two.” He held up his hand to stop the boy from speaking. “No, wait. Let me guess. Emma? No? Regina, then.” He let his surprise show on his face. “Really. I was unaware she had done anything to inspire such generosity lately. May I ask the occasion?”

“I don’t need a reason to buy my mom a present!”

Mr. Gold spread his hands. Go on.

“Buuut she’s been getting better about the magic and evil lately and anyways it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and I always get her something for Valentine’s Day. David already helped me get something for my other mom.” The boy glanced about the shop, apparently unable to find whatever he came for. “It’s a pawn shop. You have to have necklaces somewhere.”

“Indeed I do. Possibly even something you can afford.” He spun on his cane with a flourish and walked around to the back of the counter, where he ducked down and pulled out a large display box. Gingerly as he put it down, the wood of the box still clacked lightly against the glass counter. Inside it gleamed dozens of little charms and earrings, silver or golden chains both thin and thick, but only one of them caught Henry’s attention.

“That one.” Henry pointed at it emphatically through the case’s glass top. “Definitely that one.”

“I thought you might say that. Rather suitable, don’t you think?” Gold flipped the case open and picked up the item in question, dangling the fine silver chain on his index finger. From it hung a piece of paper on a string and a tiny apple, complete with stem and leaf, no bigger than a marble. In the dark velvet of the box it had seemed crimson; when held up the light refracted through the apple and it looked more a dark pink.

Henry checked the price tag on the string. “Thirty dollars?”

Gold smirked. He could see the boy counting up his savings in his head. “This _is_ a pawn shop. By definition everything here has already been owned by somebody else. It does tend to drive the prices down a bit.” He arched his brows. Thirty dollars had seemed low enough for the boy to afford. “The apple bit too pricey for you?”

“Well…I have enough money for it, but I was thinking of buying her some flowers, too.” Complete with huge, begging eyes. Perfect. That’s what Rumpelstiltskin had been hoping for.

“Tell you what.” He paused for a moment as the boy held his breath. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“No!” Henry’s back straightened and his eyes became wary. “No deals. That’s how the trouble always starts.”

“Too right. Don’t worry, Henry, no magic here. I promise, even you won’t have any trouble with this offer, and I know you’ve studied every inch of that book. Just hear me out. If you don’t like it, you can pretend you never heard it.”

The silence as Henry contemplated was just long enough that Gold feared the boy wouldn’t accept. But then Henry nodded and the man breathed an inner sigh of relief.

“Now,” Gold began, voice hushed, “I am willing to pay for your flowers. A bouquet of a dozen, say. Does that sound good?” Another nod. “However, when you buy them, I need you to buy another dozen. Red roses.”

“What if he asks why I’m buying two bouquets?”

“You have two mothers, don’t you?”

Henry scowled. “Lying is bad. It’s like Archie says, I shouldn’t give into my dark side.”

Rumpelstiltskin smiled soothingly. “If you do this well, you won’t even have to lie. But if you do, it’s such a little one. No need to worry, Henry.” He was acutely aware of how closely the boy’s name echoed the Dark One's usual ‘Dearie’ this time.

“Why can’t you get them yourself? Is it because he’s Belle’s father and he hates you?” And there is the boy’s trademark perspicuity. He’d been afraid of that.

“Henry, what do you know of my past run-ins with the insufferable Mr. French?”

A small, cocky smile started to spread across the boy’s face. “The sheriff is my mom. I know that he stole from you and you kidnapped him and once he tried to erase Belle’s memory.”

“Among other things, yes. So you can see how that might make buying flowers from him difficult. And as there are no other florists in town, I must employ somebody to do my buying for me.”

“So you want to buy Belle flowers but you can’t because her dad is the florist and he hates you so you need me to buy them for you so you’ll give me money to buy them and what I want to get for my mom too.” Henry grinned breathlessly.

Gold lowered his voice conspiratorially. “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it, but you must tell no one of this.”

“I’ll take it,” he said, positively beaming. “I mean, it’s for true love, I have to help out!”

“In that case, we really must be going. I know he’s holding his shop open late for last-minute buyers, but I have the feeling your grandparents would frown on your roaming the town so late. It would be bad for business for me to make a further enemy of them, especially after I’ve put so much work into making amends.” He chuckled handed over the necklace. “Here. No charge.”

Henry looked at him sharply. “But now I can pay for my own flowers.”

“Ah, but now you’ve made a deal.” Rumpelstiltskin let a smirk steal over his face as he closed the box and put it back behind the counter. “And as you well know, breaking a deal is even worse than making one.”

“You tricked me!” Gold was worried for a moment that he might have made a mistake, but Henry seemed more confused than hurt or angry.

“Well, it is my nature. Dark One, evil, et cetera, et cetera.” He strode around the counter and towards the door. “Think of it as a lesson.”

“But you’re helping me.” Henry followed him out of the shop and into the man’s car, still holding the necklace.

“I have bad days. Besides, look at this trove. I have treasures untold. Gadgets and gizmos a-plenty. Whozits and whatzits galore. They tend to clutter up the place.” A flick of the wrist produced a slender, elegant box. “Here, have another. This should keep your little gift from getting damaged.”

The necklace was put gently in the box and then shoved unceremoniously into what looked like a padded pocket in the boy’s backpack. “You’ve seen The Little Mermaid?”

\-- 

The drive to A Game of Thorns—or rather, a block away from it, so as to not attract suspicion—was short and filled with the discussion of Disney movies. The wait for Henry to get back from the store, however, seemed to take forever. Rumpelstiltskin tapped his fingers nervously on the steering wheel. Moe French had never been the most observant of people, but even he could glance at the register when Henry swiped the card. Although perhaps that wouldn’t change anything; the man might be just as happy to charge the card thinking it was stolen. Or maybe Henry’s bouquets were too obviously different, and—

A knock on the passenger window interrupted his thoughts. Henry looked pleased as he opened the door and shoved two bouquets at Mr. Gold to hold while he strapped himself in. Gold inspected both with interest. One was the requested dozen red roses, but the other was an almost respectful arrangement of various flowers in hues of white and pink, complete with an ornate blank card. There were blushing amaryllises, roses in cerise, pink and white rain lilies. It was almost as if….

“Are you trying to send her a message?” he asked, incredulous. “With flowers?”

“Yup!” Henry took the flowers back so the man could drive. “I’ll write her an explanation. Just in case she doesn’t know what they mean.”

Somehow, Gold felt this was distinctly out of his element. “You, ah—you looked them up?”

“Yup. Do you know what they mean?”

“No, only their magical uses. Amaryllis, for example, can be used in a potion to significantly increase confidence and lower inhibitions. Possibly too much so. Why did you decide on these particular flowers? ”

“I wanted it to be special. She’s been trying so hard to be good but everybody is still scared of her.” He picked at the ribbon tied around the base of his bouquet. “It’s like nobody thinks she can do it. They all think she can never change, but she has, and the only one who can see it is me and mom. Emma, I mean. How can they expect her to get better if nobody wants to help her? And you,” Suddenly Rumpelstiltskin found himself with full force of Henry’s glare. “Don’t make it harder for her! It’s bad enough without you pushing her around.”

Rumpelstiltskin held up a hand to placate him. “I’ve been a bit busy to deal with Regina. And,” he made sure to emphasize the word, “I’m rather hoping she succeeds.”

“You are?”

He hesitated for a long moment, avoiding the boy’s wide-eyed stare and feeling oddly ill at ease when he finally did speak. “If Regina can recover from her current state, then perhaps…Perhaps I have a chance of becoming a better man. Make no mistake Henry. I may have been kind to you today, but I am a bad man. I hurt people, often for no good reason. I appear to be responsible one way or another for at least one misfortune of every citizen of Storybrooke. I take advantage of their desperate situations and use them for my own gain.” He swallowed past the uncomfortable tightness in his throat. “But if Regina can become a better person, so too can I.”

It took several moments of contemplating the ridiculousness of trusting a ten-year-old with thoughts he only brought to Belle out of adherence to their promise of complete honesty before Rumpelstiltskin realized they had arrived at the Charming residence. He cleared his throat awkwardly and clapped Henry on the shoulder before remembering that was a gesture he had reserved long ago for someone else. The handle on the door seemed to stick, but a little bit of force and he was free of the oppressive atmosphere of the car, himself again and no longer strangely vulnerable. On the other side of the car, Henry climbed out and walked around to join Mr. Gold.

“Thanks! For the flowers, I mean. And the rest.” Something about the sheer earnestness of Henry’s face was too much.

“We did have a deal.”

“Good night Mr. Gold.”

“Good night, Henry.”

He watched until the boy was safely inside the house before getting back inside the car, smile fading. But when he looked down at his seat, he found a flower resting there. Long, slender green-brown stem, six faintly pink petals curling outwards, and a tag on a string tied carefully around the center of the stem. Gold picked it up to get a better look. The tag looked to be the same that had been on the necklace, but on the previously blank side “PRIDE” was printed in careful script. The $30 mark on the other side was scratched out when he flipped it over to check, and in its place was a message.

I BELIEVE IN YOU

He smiled, just a little bit, and slid the flower into the center of his rose bouquet.


	2. Magic Lily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry tries to explain to his mom why he used flowers to talk to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The letter Henry wrote to his mom. All the notes of last chapter apply.

Dear Mom,

Hi. Sorry, I was originally going to have a dozen flowers for you, but I had to give one away so there’s only eleven. I hope you don’t mind. It was for a good cause, I promise.

If you’re reading this then you’ve already gotten the necklace. I hope you liked it. There’s a lot of things I want to tell you, but I wasn’t sure I could get all the important points in or say it right, so I did it like this. Each of the flowers has a meaning. It’s this thing called the language of flowers. There’s a book about it at school. Anyways, here’s what they’re all for:

Roses (dark pink!) - Roses are for love (duh!) but it turns out different colored roses also mean other things! For example, white ones are for purity and blue ones are for mysterious stuff and so on (if I ever need to send you a secret message I’ll see if I can send you a blue rose with it so you know!). But dark pink ones are “gratitude.” I wanted to thank you for not doing evil things and for saving Emma and Snow and bringing me up.

Amaryllises (Amaryllisi?) – These are the really light pink ones with the petals that curl outwards. They stand for pride. I wasn’t sure at first if that was the right word to choose, but I’m really happy that you’re doing your best to not do magic and to get better and I think that’s pride.

Rain lilies (also called magic lilies and fairy lilies and rainflowers) – The little pink and white ones are these. Some flowers mean a lot of things, and that includes these. These ones mean “I love you too” and “I’m sorry” and also “I haven’t forgotten you.” I thought maybe you might want to hear “I love you” a little more, so here it is: I love you. You seem a little bit lonely. I’m sorry, Mom. I should be there to support you more. I think you just need somebody else to understand sometimes. I know I haven’t seen you much the last few days, but I haven’t forgotten you or anything. I just thought you would want to know. For a long time I sometimes worried if my birth mom forgot about me because she never came and found me. But now I know it’s because she was giving me my best chance, just like you are now.

I think that’s everything.   
You can do it, Mom.

Love,  
Henry

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this up on Valentine's in my notebook, but was too lazy or tired to type it up till now. I think it's kind of obvious the fictional world and mine doesn't match up on dates, but I pretended. Just a little thing I wrote up. Apologies for the quality, I haven't really edited it or checked it for quality control or anything, I just wrote it as it came.
> 
> The Little Mermaid song referenced is Part of Your World. A bit of it goes something like this, which I thought seemed to fit Rum well:
> 
> "Look at this trove  
> Treasures untold  
> How many wonders can one cavern hold?  
> Looking around here you think  
> Sure, she's got everything  
> I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty  
> I've got whozits and whatzits galore  
> You want thingamabobs?  
> I've got twenty!  
> But who cares?  
> No big deal  
> I want more"
> 
> On the flowers in this fic - I basically used wikipedia for everything. I wrote the fic first and found the flowers later, and may have twisted the language a bit.
> 
> Amaryllis (also called the belladonna lily)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaryllis
> 
> Magic lilies - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainflower
> 
> and hopefully you know what roses look like yourself.


End file.
